Only One
by InfinitNei
Summary: ((2016)) "I had one job; to defend humanity in the place of my father. I didn't think it would be this hard to honor his dying wish, to turn my back on the ones who hurt me, betrayed me... loved me. But humanity must be preserved... at all costs. This is your world Fairy Tail. My time is up." ((Neirah's canon conclusion to the Alvarez Arc))


**_Only One  
_**.  
.

 ** _Alvarez Insert/Alternate Ending  
_**

.

* * *

.

 _"Well look who's finally out of bed?" Bickslow snickered devilishly as he was joined by a rather casual lightning dragon half way through the day. "Jeez, just 'cause you have a girlfriend now doesn't mean a war ain't comin'."_

 _._

 _Laxus folded his arms and smiled humbly. "I just got finished with a pain in the ass warm up war, even the best of us need to recharge every now and then."_

 _._

 _Freed's expression faltered grimly as the colour flushed from his face. "Please refrain from talking like that in the light of current circumstances."_

 _._

 _"That's funny," Evergreen crooned. She tipped one polished nail to her lips and observed where Laxus had entered the guild. "You and Neirah are a couple now, right? Did you honestly leave her behind?"_

 _._

 _"Ever! You're not helping!" Freed shrieked in alarm._

 _._

 _"Don't worry, it's not like that." The Thunder Legion barely caught the falter in Laxus' confidence, but his hesitation was something that drew his grandfather's attention almost instantly. "She's already gone."_

 _._

 _Makarov's eyes widened in horror to Laxus' expulsion, the breath catching of all within earshot._

 _._

 _"What do you mean gone?!" Evergreen shouted in panic. "Laxus, Alvarez could invade at any minute! You can't just let her wander around out there on her own! The city's already been evacuated!"_

 _._

 _"Yeah, dude! How could you let your pr-"_

 _._

 _All the comfort and ease washed out of his once casual expression as he reached out and silenced his frantic friends. "Just knock it off, will you?!" He straightened and observed the silent crowd gathering before an approaching Mavis slowly grew nearer._

 _._

 _"Neirah has left?" Mavis cooed softly._

 _._

 _Laxus responded to her inquiry with a stern nod. "Yesterday…"_

 _._

 _Mavis dropped her head in disappointment. "How unfortunate… I had really hoped to use her in my strategy against God Serena."_

 _._

 _"I don't understand," Freed murmured solemnly. "She seemed so eager to… to get this war over with. I don't understand why she would just leave."_

 _._

 _Bickslow's gaze narrowed suspiciously on his comrade. "I'm surprised you'd let her."_

 _._

 _Laxus diverted his gaze sheepishly._

 _._

 _"I'm just as surprised," Makarov murmured upon approach. "But I suppose it's for the best. We will fight this war with or without her." His gaze grew stern as it met Laxus'. "This is our home. Not something to be abandoned lightly."_

 _._

 _There was ice in Laxus' steel gaze as he glared back at his grandfather in disappointment. "Tsk, you really hate her."_

 _._

 _"I really hate the concept of my children fighting a war in their time, but there are some things that must be tolerated."_

 _._

 _"Did she evacuate with the rest of the town? Maybe… she's just afraid. Maybe we should find her and encourage her, because… Neirah wouldn't just abandon us like that," Wendy whimpered hurtfully. She slowly tipped glossy hazel eyes towards Laxus for answers. "Would she?"_

 _._

 _"Absolutely not," Erza commanded. "Whatever reason Neirah has to have left, we must have faith in her like she had faith in us."_

 _._

 _Makarov diverted his attention to the ground thoughtfully, trying to settle his worried thoughts._

 _._

 _"She didn't abandon anything," Laxus near growled. He shifted his hardened gaze out over the guild. "She's after Acnologia."_

 _._

 _Laxus ignored the hush and controversy rousing in the hall with his confession. He kept his gaze locked with his grandfather's._

 _._

 _"Are you two insane?!" Makarov thundered impatiently. "Laxus, Neirah is a capable little wizard, but she is no more than an insect to the likes of him."_

 _._

 _"She's not little!"_

 _._

 _"She'll be killed!"_

 _._

 _"Then she won't be your problem anymore, will she, old man?!"_

 _._

 _Evergreen flinched at Laxus' side, devastated that she could see his balled fist trembling with his own uncertainty._

 _._

 _"You've hated her from the start!" Laxus raged. "And she didn't do a damn thing to deserve it!"_

 _._

 _"You don't understand," Makarov reasoned._

 _._

 _"Did you think I wouldn't notice?!" Laxus demanded frantically. "All these secrets and half-truths? That kid has more power than anyone in this damn guild and you know it!"_

 _._

 _Freed's expression dropped sceptically. "Well, I know Neirah is capable, but the strongest-?"_

 _._

 _Laxus' gaze narrowed on his grandfather's guilty expression. "What. the hell. is holding her back?"_

 _._

 _"I warned you not to fall in love with her," Makarov rumbled gently._

 _._

 _"Well, you're a couple years too late to stop that from happening." Laxus turned away with a defiant snort. "Whatever secret you two have been keeping from the rest of us, she seems pretty damn confident that she can handle Acnologia on her own."_

 _._

 _"Master," Mira crooned uncertainly. "I-is that true? Does Neirah really have a chance at defeating Acnologia on her own."_

 _._

 _Makarov's gaze never left the tension of his grandson. "Here is your war, Laxus," he started certainly. Laxus raised his hesitant gaze back to his grandfather as he repeated what he'd warned Laxus of a year before during Marionette's attacks. "Are you on our side?"_

 _._

 _"I'm on the side that sees everyone makes it out of this with their lives," Laxus informed him sternly. "The same side as Neirah. The same side as the rest of you. Maybe when she gets back, you'll think better of her."_

 _._

 _Wendy turned and looked at her master in utter confusion. "W-wait… why wouldn't Neirah be on our side?"_

 _._

 _"She would never be anywhere else," Erza informed them regally. "She may not be here now, but if what Laxus says is true, she could be fighting her part of the war as we speak. For that reason, I vow that every strike will be twice as fierce to ensure that her bravery is honoured!"_

 _._

 _Mira watched her master carefully as the rest of the guild raised their voice in the Infinity Empress' praise. Makarov and Laxus never broke gazes, giving Mira so much unspoken tension to observe. Laxus was worried, no matter how confident he acted in front of the others, she could see the way the pain twisted his once confident expression. And after witnessing Acnologia's wrath on multiple occasions, she couldn't blame him._

 _._

 _Mira shuffled to Laxus' side as the remainder of the guild returned to their day. He was startled to feel the gentle pressure of her hands encasing one of his own. She looked up at him with the same encouraging smile she imagined Neirah would have offered him at the moment. Something she knew he needed at just that time. "They'll be ok…"_

 _._

 _Laxus stomach churned in alarm and surprise as Neirah was referred to a pair, something he didn't think Mira would have known about just yet. He steadied himself with a shuddering breath before raising his gaze back to hers with a meek smile. "Yeah… I know…"_

.

* * *

.

That was moments before Ajeel and his fleet had taken to the skies above Magnolia in charge, before Gajeel was almost taken from the world by force, before Juvia and Gray were forced to test their bonds bound, before Mavis and Zeref said their final goodbyes to a time spared.

.

Fairy Tail stood in the ruins of the guild they gave their all to protect and the unsettling truth was that during all the catastrophic commotion, nobody had seen any trace of Acnologia, or Neirah, for the duration of the battle that seemed to be over.

.

Laxus was relief stricken that everyone but their first seemed to be accounted for. He scanned the crowd with a half-grateful smile on his face before his brow was creasing hesitantly with the faltering of his hope. He didn't have to look very hard to assure himself that she wasn't with them. The entire guild reeked of blood and battle, not a hint of sakura on winter's approach.

.

"Shadow!" The members of the guild had their attention drawn to a figure stepping through the rubble of battle as Juvia ran through the settling smoke to reach their visitor. Juvia leapt into Neirah's arms with tears in her eyes, delighted to see the sister that she hadn't for days. "Juvia missed you so dearly! Oh Shadow, it was awful! Juvia was forced to battle her beloved! Big brother Gajeel almost got taken away from this world by an evil reaper! You missed so much!" Juvia backed away from Neirah's bosom and examined the woman's body for injuries. "You are not hurt, are you?" She cooed worrisomely.

.

The guild watched quietly as Neirah brooded on her thoughts before she boiled over with rage. "HURT!? I'll tell you what hurts! MY _FEET_!" She wailed collapsing over on a pillar in despair with an exasperated wail. She kicked off one of her thigh high boots and rubbed at her stinging arches. "Do you have any idea how long I had to walk to get here?! Whose big idea was it to rearrange the whole damned world anyway!? I'LL KILL THEM!" She fumed impatiently, steam forming before her flaring nostrils.

.

Neirah had no way of knowing the sadness her comment brought Erza who quietly smiled in reprieve that Neirah had returned, praying that the infinite dragon had been successful in her mission.

.

From behind the gathering crowd, stricken with relief, Laxus' brow knotted as he displayed a grateful smile. He closed his eyes and heaved out a heavy breath. In the next moment, he had felt foolish for ever doubting her safety.

.

"See, I told ya," Gajeel rumbled sinisterly to the fretful fairy's around him. He displayed a wicked grin on his lips as he folded his arms over his chest. "The kid's tough as nails." He threw his thumb back into the centre of his chest with pride. "Gihi, she get's _that_ from 'er big brother." Gajeel flinched as Levy batted him across the abdomen, unintentionally winding the iron dragon slayer.

.

"You know what else she gets from her big brother?!" Levy defended bitterly. "The ability to make everyone worry that she's dead even though she isn't!"

.

"I said I was sorry, kay!?" Gajeel roared with festering impatience and the subtlest of blushes.

.

"Who's she?" Gildarts murmured with intrigue. "I don't think I've ever seen her before." He grunted with Cana's stern slap on his arm. "Hey, ow… Cana? Sweetie? What was that for?"

.

"She's not for you!" Cana scolded impatiently.

.

"Hn, too bad. She's cute."

.

Neirah huffed out a sigh of relief that she was met with the sea of familiar faces and slipped her boot back on. "Clearly you guys had more action here than what I found…" Her breath caught along with the conclusion of her sentence as a foreboding chill paralysed her with realisation. Through the smoke behind her, she turned to see the illuminated glow of her opponent's attack moments before thrusting the worrisome Juvia to the ground for cover. "Juvia, get back!"

.

Neirah barely got the words out of her mouth before the hiss of magical expulsion was mingling with the incinerating of debris around them. She threw her arms out with the casting of her magic, doing everything she could to negate the advance of the roar that emitted with the intent of piercing their allied forces. "You…" She growled through bared teeth, piercing amber eyes glowing with fierce strain. "Do you have any idea how hard I searched for you? And you show up _here_?! NOW?!"

.

Makarov took a step backwards in panic, his wide gaze trembling with the thought of their battered team facing such a monumental foe in their current state. "Can Fairy Tail not catch a damn break!?" He exclaimed in alarm.

.

"Acnologia…" Gildarts shuttered out in panic, a determined expression on his features as he shielded Cana from the settling dust resulting from the dragon's blast.

.

"You have kept me waiting long enough, girl!" Acnologia bellowed, glaring at the frail woman panting before him with rage and exhaustion.

.

"Who the heck is he talkin' to!?" Gildarts demanded, taking Makarov's side as their guild master stood defiantly at the foot of their foe. Gildarts followed Makarov's stern expression to where Neirah glared back at the beast. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? _That little thing_!? What the hell is happening here?!"

.

Cana rejoined him and shoved her balled fists at her side furiously. "Spend a little more time around the damn guild and this might not be such a news flash!"

.

"I knew if I waited nearby, you would come." Acnologia bellowed, posturing in front of the woman who'd negated his attack. "No matter how the world shuffled or who stood between, I knew you would return to your miserable mortal companions. Now in one final stroke, I can send you all from this world!"

.

"I warned you countless times to minimalize your involvement with this guild," she snarled out furiously. She threw her arms out once again to defend against the dragon's impatient blast. "We agreed that when Reku's threat was eliminated that we would finish this elsewhere!"

.

"How dare you stand before me in such a pitiful form and think it would sway my actions! Eileen made sure to complicate our agenda, so here I stand! Face me now or perish!" He shouted through multiple assaults on Neirah's defence. "I have grown tired of your arrogance! Release the seal of the divine and face me or die in that wretched form alongside your pathetic friends!"

.

Neirah's eye widened as lightning split the sky and crashed into the wrathful dragon. "Careful who you're callin' pathetic, pal." Laxus rumbled vehemently, taking Neirah's side.

.

Gildarts narrowed his gaze grimly on the defiant pair. "You're kidding. _THAT'S_ why she's off limits, isn't it?"

.

"HEY! NO FAIR!" Natsu wailed, trying to scurry away from Lucy and Happy's grasp. "I wanna fight too!"

.

"The last time this happened we went to sleep for seven years, Natsu!" Happy defended. "Think of all the fish we missed!"

.

"Yeah Natsu, let the crazies handle this!" Lucy demanded, clinging to the enthusiastic boy's arm. "We're in rough shape thanks to Alvarez and your one arm is seriously out of commission!"

.

"Take the others and leave," thundered Neirah's accelerated demands. She refused to take her eyes off where Acnologia took flight, his enraged cry piercing the air with his fury.

.

"No chance in hell!" Laxus quipped back furiously. "If you're gonna be stupid enough to take this on, I'm gonna be stupid enough to stand by your side through it." Likewise, he also didn't turn away from their quarry. "So how 'bout you do us both a favour and come to your senses so we can all live to see another damn day."

.

"So we run! Where do we hide that he won't find us?! We can't avoid this conflict any longer! _I_ can't avoid it!" Neirah closed her eyes and dropped her head. "Laxus, I don't want to have to do this in front of you! I don't have time to argu-" Neirah was forced to defend another time as Acnologia spewed out a long line of venomous threats. Her gentle squeal was shrill as her feet raked over the earth despite her solid stance.

.

"Laxus!" Freed demanded in panic, throwing his arm up to shield his eyes from the dust rising around them once more.

.

"She can't be serious!" Evergreen shouted, taking cover alongside Elfman's defensive form. "I know she thought she could do it before, but not like this! He'll kill her!"

.

"I know that kid's always been a little crazy but this is insane!" Bickslow admitted hurriedly.

.

Gildarts shook Makarov by the shoulders impatiently as he watched the dragon's attacks break the barrier of the young slayer's spells. "Are you freaking kidding me?! How the hell is that little thing blocking Acnologia's attacks?! That's not human!"

.

Laxus' breath caught with the sound of Gildarts' remark, his gaze widening as it stared absently into the sinking of Acnologia's claws into the earth. There was once a time that Neirah's aura could be compared to many of the other guild members. She was powerful, but nothing like what he sensed in her the moment she glared back at Acnologia with death in her eyes. It was happening. The same wash of power to overtake the battlefield when she released her dragon force. "Neirah…?" He stammered out weakly, slowly turning to face her.

.

"I can't keep wasting my energy on protecting the guild," Neirah whispered lightly. "Take them and go."

.

Laxus took a step backwards out of the series of golden magic circles appearing at Neirah's feet, the sting of panic choking his words. "Neirah, what the hell is happening?!" Laxus' attention whirled around to where Gajeel was holding a frantic Levy back, her screams piercing as she fought with everything she had to reach Neirah's side.

.

"Don't do it!" She cried. "Shadow, please! Come with us! You promised!"

.

"Damn it, what's gotten into you!?" Gajeel grumbled in alarm. "Obviously Laxus ain't gonna let her stick around. Come on! Stop your blubbering and settle down!"

.

Laxus turned back to where Neirah's brow furrowed disdainfully. "I'm sorry," she whispered softly.

.

He threw his arms out, fingers flexed with demand. "Would you stop apologizin' for everything and get serious! You're not gonna fight this guy on your own!" His blood chilled with the expulsion of magical energy around the small woman next to him, he couldn't even comprehend the adjustment in her fluctuating power levels. "Neirah, tell me what the _fuck_ is going on!?"

.

"I was not fathered by a man named Karua," Neirah started powerfully. She concentrated on the defence of her friends from the impatient black dragon as she struggled to explain.

.

"Yea! We know that!" Laxus roared. "What does that have to do with-"

.

"I was fathered by a beast that walked this earth as a man known by the name of Ryverika N'Ahrai."

.

"What the hell!?" Gajeel demanded. "Tell me that I didn't hear that right."

.

"Shadow, no!" Levy whined as frantically as ever, devastated that Neirah had finally exposed the truth they had discovered in translating the Kho'Misika N'Ahrai months prior.

.

"Ryverika? Wasn't that the name of Neirah's dragon?!" Lucy rushed out, grateful that Natsu had finally stopped struggling against her grasp when he heard Neirah's confession. "This is a coincidence, right?!"

.

"The book." Juvia gasped, allowing Gray to help her to her feet. She shook tears from her eyes with her memories. "The book, Kho'Misika N'Ahrai…"

.

"Contained my father's legacy in the words of my mother." Neirah offered gently. Her gaze flashed open as she glared at the dark dragon circling before them filled with triumphant excitement. "The dragon who chose to walk among humans."

.

"Big sister, what's happening!?" Lisanna called out in terror, clutched tightly in her brother's arms alongside Mirajane.

.

"This must have been what Zeref was talking about!" Mira cried over the rattling of the very earth around them. "The Golden Dragon Divine!"

.

The light was too strong for any member of the guild to watch, but despite the pain in his glossy gaze, Laxus refused to turn away. If he wasn't so distracted by his disbelief and the agonised cries of Levy from nearby, he may have finally admitted to himself that there was no way in hell he'd ever get away with calling her lightning little again.

.

The light broke and flooded the town with a brilliance only comparable to Makarov's Fairy Law, a light bright enough to make even the black dragon shield his eyes. Amid the wash of brilliant golden rays, a dark and foreboding shadow took form. Those who had seen Neirah's painting of Ryverika might've mistaken the beast inside for him. A creature emerged with scales black as night, wings transparently golden as they caught the light in a glittering sea of scattered rays. It was a beast they only saw momentarily before the dragon's massive body absorbed the light around it and made its features unrecognisable in the wash of golden rays brightening its existence.

.

"No freaking way… the kids a-" Gajeel stumbled a step back in alarm. "Are you tellin' me that all these years, my kid sister's been a fucking dragon?!"

.

"H-HOLY CRAP SHADS! You look freaking awesome!" Natsu wailed hysterically leaping around like a fool. He paused a moment and raised a finger to his lips in thought. "Wait a sec, does that mean that you were trained to slay yourself?"

.

Lucy's impatient cry broke the tension of the silent guild around them. "NATSU!"

.

Neirah opened her golden reptilian eyes and leisurely spread her wings for the first time, her heart heavy beneath a chest of scales as she listened to Levy's truth. "How could you?!" Levy demanded unforgivingly, her gaze narrowed to protect it from the brilliant light illuminating Neirah's reflective surface. "What about Gajeel?!"

.

"What about me?!" Gajeel demanded, still clinging to the squirmy girl.

.

"He needs you!"

.

With a furiously stern expression, he grabbed Levy by the shoulders to steady her against his impatient glare. "Alright, get it together, shorty, and start singin'!" He demanded. "What do you know that we don't!?"

.

"Juvia can only assume, but with what Shadow has shared with her over the years… Juvia is certain that her mother cast a protection spell on her at birth." Juvia interrupted, allowing Levy to cry into Gajeel's embrace. "That must be the seal that Acnologia has referred to."

.

"Suri was fond of protection spells." Pantherlily agreed gently, diverting his gaze from Gajeel's as it pried.

.

"Yeah so!? What the heck does that mean for the kid!?"

.

"Once the seal of the spell is released it can never be recovered," Makarov interrupted sternly. "It is something no doubt she and Levy have known all along."

.

"Shadow... she will never return to us?" Juvia whimpered. Gajeel stared at the back of the rain wizard for a long moment, Levy still shuttering in his arms.

.

"Wait, are you sayin' that Neirah can never go back to being human!?" Gray demanded, watching Juvia cry into her hands.

.

Lucy's glossy gaze trembled in sheer devastation as she was awash with the emotional turmoil over exposed information. "This is why the Master warned us that she wouldn't return with Laxus and Gajeel."

.

Makarov kept a careful eye on Laxus as the man trembled in place suffering from the effects of horror and disbelief, but despite his grandson's vacancy, he was sure he had absorbed the information offered even as he stared up at the dragon that was once the woman he loved through the luminescence of the golden scales on her bright figure. "I was certain Neirah would be forced to dissolve the seal on her true nature to face the resurrected infinity dragon. It was why I was certain she would never come back to us. I knew this day would find us…"

.

'Master.'

.

Makarov flinched with the telepathic communications established between the guild and the true infinity dragon before them. "Neirah…" He murmured gently.

.

'With respect, I need you to see the others to safety,' she projected warmly. 'I will do my best to drive Acnologia away, but if I should fail, I need to know that they are safe.'

.

"Don't talk like that!" Cana demanded furiously in response to the dragon's scepticism. "Don't you dare make it sound like you're not gonna make it back!"

.

"Cana…" Lucy whimpered softly, watching the tears stream from the card master's eyes.

.

"Screw your brother! He's not the only one this hurts!"

.

'Levy, take care of Screwball for me.' Levy caught her breath from where she cried into Gajeel's chest as the dragon connected with her.

.

"Shadow," she whimpered softly.

.

Neirah bowed her head, ignoring Acnologia's tantrum as she steadied her thoughts and her racing heartbeat. 'We walked more than a mile along the same path…' Neirah started in private audience once more. 'But we've come to the end, Sparky.'

.

"Shut up…" Laxus hissed under his breath. "Neirah, you can't do this to me! Not again…"

.

Neirah slowly craned her head to one side, completely astounded by the feeling of ever having to look down on him. 'They called me the apocalypse, but I wasn't born to destroy worlds… I was born to defend them. This was my father's will. Humanity must be preserved at all costs.' Neirah lowered her nose right to the ground, thankful that a dragon's tears were something she seemed incapable of sharing. 'Acnologia is the presence of all magic, I am the absence. It is why it must be me.'

"Do you think I give a crap about what that old lizard wanted!? And stop talking like you're some sort of fucking sage! You're not! You're a Fairy Tail wizard! Not some ancient monster, not some of fucking lizard's prophet!" Laxus denied her, tears in his eyes with the shaky expulsion of his defence. "You're my woman," he muttered shrilly. He shook his head, his teeth ground to help bear his devastation. "Just hurry up and kick this guy's ass so we can go home and go back to the way things were!"

.

A small smile found the reptilian features of Fairy Tail's Shadow. 'Even if I do find victory in this battle, I can never return to my mortal form, to you…' She finally rose to face the man who once stood so substantially before her, now trembling like a rodent in her wake. 'Do you remember when you said that Zade should know that dragons don't have a place in this world anymore?'

.

Her heart split in two to watch tears fall so freely from his eyes as he watched her spread her wings and take flight before them. "Don't do this," he choked out weakly.

.

'Keep a smile in your heart for me, Prince.'

.

Laxus' heart stopped when in the next instant, Neirah and Acnologia vanished before their very eyes. All at once, the reality of the situation pierced his chest with agony and he couldn't contain his devastated roar. "Neirah!"

.

"You disgust me," Acnologia rumbled impatiently. He eyed the woman's newly transformed body. "Not only did you insult your ancestry to walk among them, but you cling to their affection like it will save you from suffering your father's fate."

.

"Their love for me will not be what sees me to victory," Neirah demanded impatiently. She humbly tested the stability of her glistening wings in flight, a sensation she luckily had experienced on occasion with her infinite secret arts. "It is my love for them that will see that delivered."

.

"Then I will remove that light of hope from your life before we even begin!"

.

Neirah lingered in one spot as Acnologia charged up and released a devastating attack towards her family, not the slightest of concern in her expression as she watched her defiant lover clamour for her return as the black dragon's attack ripped towards him.

.

"Neirah! Please! Don't-" A chill had Laxus' words catching in his throat, a hitch in his step as a ghastly presence seemed to pierce his entirety. He turned his attention to the empty sky, his heart racing uncertainly. He clutched his chest with flexed fingers, staring bleakly into the earth scarred with the presence of dragons a moment before. "What the hell was that…?" He murmured weakly.

.

"How strange," Freed started in alarm. "Two dragons stood before us not moments ago." He turned to where he watched Bickslow take his helmet off to look into the air with a furrowed brow.

.

"Don't get too excited, buddy, they're still there."

.

"What?! How is that even possible?!" Evergreen demanded in shock, watching Bickslow return his helmet.

.

"Time magic," Levy admitted softly. She had finally gathered her composure enough to come out from Gajeel's arms. "We have… we have to move…" She turned her attention to prying eyes with a gentle sob. "Neirah's father, Ryverika, had control over the elements of time itself in his later years… It was how he was able to teach Neirah so much while she was a child, by slowing the flow of time for the two of them."

.

"What have you done!?" Acnologia roared furiously, turning to glare at Neirah.

.

"I have manipulated the time in the area around us," she offered regally. She refused to show her fear to the dragon as she watched her friends retreat from the city of Magnolia towards the mountains. "The earth will be spared the damage of our conflict until I either drop the enchantment or fall in battle. Then, the shadows of our war will fall upon this land in less than an instant."

.

"Then I will end you swiftly and see to it that those precious to you follow you from this world with gruesome tales of their suffering!"

.

Neirah recoiled with the strike that Acnologia had offered her, her clumsy response barely enough to keep her coherent as the seasoned dragon drove her into the earth beneath his claws. In their eyes, the land was scattering to all corners beneath their battle, but to those retreating, the air was still.

.

"Alright, let's move!" Makarov ushered sternly, seeing to it that no fairy was left behind. "If what Levy says is true, it's only a matter of time before the spell breaks and whatever damage is done will catch up with us!"

.

"She won't break…" Laxus denied. His expression was dimmed and downcast as he spoke through his teeth, clenching his fist as he refused to follow them in retreat. "She's gonna win." He whined out his words faintly, every one trembling upon its expulsion. He tipped his fierce gaze to the sky around them, staring at it like he could see their brawl on the other side of the time rift. "And not a damn thing's gonna change…"

.

"Snap out of it, Laxus!" Makarov demanded impatiently. "If you just keep standing there, there won't be anything for her to return to!"

.

"I'm with Laxus!"

.

"Natsu!" Makarov scolded.

.

"I wanna see this!" Natsu demanded. "Come on, Shads! Drop the curtain!" He hollered in demand. "Shad's is a freaking dragon! There's no way I'm missin' this! This is by far the coolest thin-"

.

Makarov flinched with the deafening crack of Lucy's palm raking across Natsu's face. Natsu turned to face Lucy's denied expression before the girl revealed her tear stained brown eyes and her expression contorted with heart ache. "Did you not hear what Levy said?!" She wailed in agony as she forced reality upon the fire slayer. "Neirah can't return to the way things were! She will. never. be human. again!" Natsu stared back at her with furrowing brows as Lucy cried desperately for the loss of her friend. "Do you have any idea how serious this is?! Even if she wins, her life as she knew it is over!"

.

Laxus simply bore down on his already strained expression, completely torn as to what he should do. His heart was breaking like he'd never known and the worst of it all was how helpless he was feeling in the moment. What did that mean for them? Their child? He caught his breath, his eyes opening when he felt the stern grip of another on his shoulder. He turned with trembling breaths to meet Gajeel's stern expression. For a moment, the two shared unspoken sentiments before Gajeel finally broke the silence.

.

"The Master's right…" Gajeel assured him slowly. "If I know the kid, the world's gonna come down when she kicks this guy's ass, and I don't know about you, but when she's done with that, I wanna be around to choke the life outta 'er myself for scarin' the hell outta me…"

.

After a long moment, Laxus threw his hand up against Gajeel's and started to fall back with the rest of his guild mates.

.

* * *

.

Neirah sank her claws into the wrist of her captor before craning her head around and sinking her teeth into his single arm. She butted heads with the black beast in order to protect her long neck from his own assault. She had to be smart; she had never taken such a form and had to remember the long hours of thought she put into her planning for her inevitable battle with Acnologia.

.

She kicked free with her back legs and fired Infinity's golden flames his way. While he was shaking off her assault, she quickly darted into the air to regain her senses. 'My spells work similarly to when I was human. That's a good start.' She thought nervously, turning to watch her quarry take to the skies. She swung her head towards the ocean. With a flash of intrigue, she soared as fast as she could towards it, taking her prey in the opposite direction of the fleeing Fairy Tail.

.

"Such bold words when you walked among the humans and now that we finally meet you flee me?!"

.

Neirah swooped to the side, trying her best to avoid the shots of black magic plummeting towards her. 'If I lure him away from the inland, it will buy more time for the others to escape.' She tucked her wings alongside her body and darted through the air, protecting their sensitive membranes from his blasts. When she had drawn him over the open ocean, she thrust her wings out and caught her trajectory in order to draw to a halt. Turning to face him, her golden gaze glowed with pride. "A fitting stage for a battle between end bringers, wouldn't you agree?"

.

She could feel her father in her blood with every steady breath. The day that Ryverika had fallen to Acnologia, the day Tenrou Island was lost, the day fates intertwined and led them to where they stood; there was no way she could deny her purpose.

.

Acnologia caught up to the swift infinity dragon and postured predatorily. "If you're asking me if I find it appropriate that you will rest on the ocean floor with the remains of your wretched father than yes. It is _more_ than fitting."

.

"For that to occur, you must first defeat me," she warned him anxiously.

.

"Then let us proceed!" Neirah drew in a deep breath as she watched Acnologia's blast approach before she released her infinite dragon roar with all the unbridled fury of the gods. As the blasts met, they imploded in on themselves and sent the ocean beneath them into the air miles above ground level. She didn't act surprised, but a dragon's heart still raced with the feeling of catastrophic power rushing through her veins, power inherited from her father that she was never allowed to know until her mother's seal had been released on her true form. The Golden Dragon Divine. She glared back at Acnologia through the water droplets returning back to the ocean beneath them.

.

"We are opposites in every way," Acnologia snarled. "We have known this from the start."

.

"Strange how the negation of our elements clashing pulls opposites together," she assured him confidently. "I will admit what you will not when I say that I didn't expect this to be easy."

.

By the time he lunged back towards her, she was ready to fight with the unrestrained wrath of the infinite. She darted through the sky towards him, her swiftness in the air rivalling that of Grandeeney. She could feel every element coarse through her being in a battle against the calamity threatening humanity for the past four hundred years, and she was ready to use them all to bring an end to him. She collided with the beast, but he was quick to stagger away and return to trying to blast her from afar. Close range combat put him at a disadvantage automatically for his missing limb, but he wasn't going to let her think that he was retreating.

.

Acnologia drove his back legs into Neirah's wings from above, forcing her to turn quickly mid flight and kick him off. While she was freeing herself, she narrowly escaped his roar as it was released across the land. She tipped her head back and dropped to the water like a dart, watching his attacks power tear into the earth that she had tried so desperately to lure him away from. She closed her eyes with her silent prayer moments before her large body sliced through the water beneath. 'Stay safe, Fairy Tail…'

.

* * *

.

"Erza!" Gray demanded, aiding Juvia in catching the warrior as she stumbled on the rocky mountainous debris. "Are you sure you're ok? You're really beat up."

.

"I'm fine…" Erza assured him sternly, her breathless expression denied as she pushed forwards. "Let's keep moving!"

.

Juvia clasped her hand to her chest worrisomely. "You are in terrible shape… It must be hard for you to even wal-"

.

"I said I was fine!" Erza shouted, pushing forward.

.

Juvia recoiled alongside Gray with a sad whimper. "She's not, is she?"

.

Gray sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, carefully scaling the land behind her. "She wouldn't tell us even if she wasn't."

.

Juvia looked sadly over her shoulder towards the still land at their backs, her heart tremoring like the ground beneath Acnologia's deafening roar. "Please be safe, my dear Shadow…"

.

* * *

.

Neirah rocketed from beneath the water's surface, her cascading body reforming once more as she took to the skies. She crashed into Acnologia's stunned figure and somersaulted through the air on top of him before driving him towards the ocean beneath. Before he could spread his wings and recuperate, she parted her overwhelming jaws for Infinity's roar. Soon, he was crying out with the disbursement of water beneath his devastated flop.

.

He was far swifter with his recovery as he scampered out of the water towards her, blasting indirectly into the sky. Neirah recoiled with the dark blast colliding with her from behind the smoke of destruction mingling with the heavy cloud cover they climbed into. Neirah quickly dodged the shadow of his strike, her heavy breaths stifling in the dark clouds heavy with moisture. She felt the pressure increase with the height they had reached, and she could only assume that so had the black dragon. He had grown silent, if not weary of their elevation, forcing her to scan the vapours for his presence. She could see his shadow sifting through the heavy cloud cover, the rumble of a distant storm concealing his heavy wing beats.

.

She closed her eyes for a long moment and just listened. 'If my mortal form was capable…' She thought humbly, unfurling her mighty wings to their full extent. Her eyes flew open, their luminescent glow bright with promise as her golden wings crystallised brightly with steel scales. 'Then so can this one!'

.

Acnologia darted clumsily out of the way to avoid the steel coated body of his opponent slicing through the skies. "Impossible! She was capable of merging with the water, flying with all the grace of the sky dragon and now opposes me as an airborne blade!?" He opened his jaws as her reflective surface caught the replication of lightning skittering through the clouds. He was delighted with her devastated roar with the connection of his spell, and moments after, her figure had fallen from sight. "You will never defeat me by imitating the beasts that I have already vanquished!" He bellowed fiercely. "I am absolute!"

.

"How amusing, Marionette's Puppet Master said something very similar before he was defeated." Acnologia grew tense with the appearance of a statically charged beast illuminating the clouds before him as bright as day. He recoiled as the static from the clouds were drawn to her metallic figure and began to change her body once more. Neirah's glowing yellow eyes flashed with lean strands of electricity moments before mighty electric wings beat thunder into the humid air. "And he had a similar look on his face moments before _this_ imitation sent him to his grave."

.

Acnologia's roar of defiance was loud as he fell back in retreat, awkwardly trying to dodge the lightning fast moves of his opponent as she worked sonically through the clouds like she was one with them. He managed to strike her form a couple of times, but she didn't seem to slow down. Instead, he had found himself corralled into a series of charges that ricocheted between cloud elevations, and soon, he was surrounded. He whirled to face Neirah as her bright body lingered at his back. 'Call this _little…_ Sparky.'

.

With a devastating snap of thunder, she drew her head back and parted jaw for her devastating roar. She watched as Acnologia scampered through her charge with the rain that started to fall from the clouds with her disturbance and her body became normal once more. 'I suppose you were misinformed, father,' she thought to herself in amusement. 'The speed and attack power of lightning can be used to protect those I love as powerfully as an iron hard defence ever could.'

.

She swept through the skies and charged the beast again, realising that magical attacks weren't going to cause him near the damage that her new body would be capable of. He devoured all magic, she purified it. The damage that was going to count were the jaws, claws, teeth and tail strikes. Luck saw that she had one appendage on the black beast, but she was substantially smaller in size. She tried to use her aerial aerobatics to her advantage as she wove through his strikes to avoid the sting of him tearing through her defences.

.

She ducked beneath the approach of his jaws, flaming talons ripping into the meat of his chest. "Be thankful that you face me and not Natsu," she roared. She sank her teeth into his neck and kicked back at him until he was falling back from her clutches towards the ocean. "I can only hope the heat of these flames honour Igneel's sacrifice! Kairyn's sacrifice!" She parted her jaws for the burst of molten golden flames. If nothing else, Acnologia was incapable of consuming spells that contained her divine element. Infinite magic would sicken him like any other form of magic would sicken her.

.

"No matter who I face, I will see them vanquished beneath me. Demons will not bow to angels!"

.

Neirah's pained cries pierced the air in agony as she was captured beneath his strength and scales rained from her body beneath the digging of his claws. With all her strength, she tore her claws through the air and raked them across his face until his spine-chilling wails of anguish shook the heavens with the blood spilling from his eye. "I never claimed to be an angel!" Neirah thundered intensely. She beat her wings to stabilise her before she was shaking the poison from her claws. "I am the End-Light! An eternal contradiction of my own! Like my father before me, I lingered in the dark until it was my time to outshine the evil you spread!"

.

Neirah's talons lengthened as violet sparks leapt from her shadowed figure. "No, my element might be of a divine nature, but there is no beast uglier than a demon mother fighting for the life that thrives within her…"

.

Furious over the loss of his left eye, he sailed back towards her with a roar of defiance. "There can only be one dragon in this world!"

.

Neirah met his dark blast head on, the cataclysmic rise of the tide rocketing to the heavens once more before raining down upon their clashing figures. "There is only one! You were born human! I was born of the greatest dragon to ever live!"

.

"I _am_ the greatest dragon to ever live!" Acnologia roared. He forced Neirah to retreat maternally to offer her back as his fierce strike ripped towards her stomach. The pain that tore through her saw the earth shake beneath her wails as her blood rained into the ocean from the split in her flesh. "Destroying your father assured that! Destroying his legacy by spilling his daughter's blood will see it become legend!"

.

Neirah met Acnologia, her weary body aching with disappointment to realise that her attacks weren't doing as much damage to the amputee as his attacks had done to her. "One of us approaches our end," she warned him regally.

.

"How is it possible that you know so much about the use of a body you have never experienced before?" He demanded impatiently to deny her confident warning.

.

"Levy and I translated almost the entirety of my mother's memoirs." She assured him, deeking elegantly to either side to avoid his sporadic blasts. "My father told her many stories, and like the literary genius she was, she was able to capture every sensation in her words."

.

"You knew of your lineage and you still chose to walk the path of the mortal rather than that of a God?" Acnologia paused his furious fussing for a moment to level with the woman in beast form before him. "Why?"

.

"I despised humanity once…" Neirah started confidently. "They were cruel and ruthless with the delicate life of a child. But my father liberated me. During the few years I spent at his side, I learned to appreciate humanity like never before." Neirah thought humbly to herself, her dragon's heart warming with the presence of memories she had cherished all her years.

.

* * *

.

 _"You talk a lot," Laxus grimly announced._

 _._

 _Neirah paled and her spirits faded dismally. "My bad, I'm really not a people person..." She forced out sadly. It wasn't a lie. He was the first human that she'd ever interacted with. She didn't have a clue what to say to him. 'Man this guy's a real downer...' She watched him shift and rise to his feet, his hands noticeably fidgety as he buried them back into his pockets. She sighed and closed her eyes. 'Maybe his smile's broken?'_

 _._

 _"You should probably stand up before you get trampled or somethin'." She opened her eyes to see that he had since offered her his hand, and although he avoided eye contact, she was pleased with the warmth human companionship offered her that day._

 _._

 _"Uh, yeah thanks." She crooned affectionately, her face colouring for something other than anger. After they were both on their feet again, he restlessly stuffed his hands back in his pockets._

 _._

 _"You're a pretty good artist even though you're just a kid." She turned away bashfully and adjusted strands of her hair for lack of anything better to do._

 _._

 _"Thanks. I've got lots of time on my hands." She laughed softly as her thoughts grew solemn._

 _._

 _"Yeah, I get that..." She turned to face him as she was offered his back. "Try not to get yourself trampled, ok?" Neirah watched as he walked away, waving back at her with casual detachment. She clasped her sketchbook tight to her chest, lips parted breathlessly and heart racing._

.

* * *

.

She could almost see the heartache wrenching Laxus' expression as he trailed the members of Fairy Tail with his head hung low and mind racing. He turned his grim expression out over the silent skies, watching his future fade to black.

.

"Then, when Ryverika left me, I felt like humanity had betrayed us all…"

.

* * *

.

 _Gajeel stopped along his path and cast his gaze downwards towards where a still figure waved a brush along a piece of canvas. He looked up to the sky at the stormy clouds and then dropped his curious gaze back to the little, cloaked figure. "You know it's raining... right?"_

 _._

 _"I know." He flinched with the sound of a delicate little girl's voice answering his question in a cool, detached manner. "I like to... paint in the rain. It makes the colours bleed."_

 _._

 _'She can't be serious.' He watched the languid strokes cross the page, watercolours leaking downwards over the tilted canvas against her lap. "Well, to each their own, I guess." He added casually in hopes to end their conversation as quickly as possible._

 _._

 _"This way, the picture can cry... so I don't have to." The cold, damp day didn't help the chill he got with her lonely confession, her tone even, without so much as a crack of emotion._

 _._

 _"Seems like an awful tough way to try and create somethin'," he admitted slowly. He tilted his head so that he could catch a glimpse of her features as she raised her head from where it was curled over her canvas._

 _._

 _"It's frustrating no matter how you look at it. Sometimes I just end up scrapping the whole picture. But it's a more realistic depiction of this world. The beauty in its sorrows… the world is so ugly."_

 _._

 _"Alright now yer startin' to freak me out, kid." He warned her sternly. He sighed softly when she turned her glossy silver gaze to meet his for the first time, dark circles under her tired eyes._

 _._

 _"I'm sorry, I'm not used to talking to other people so I guess my filters are a little damaged."_

 _._

 _'Tch… a little?'_

 _._

 _She turned her gaze back to her picture before tipping her head back to observe the rain fall. "This world is so dark that I create my own. A world where… no one's lonely anymore." She watched the colours run down her page. "Most of them turn brown and ugly, but this one is so colourful." She turned her gaze back to him. "And made by means of such an ugly day. It's funny, isn't it?"_

 _._

 _"You've got some screwed up sense of humour, kid," he rumbled softly. He watched as the girl returned to pack up her supplies. She slowly stood and wiped the rainwater puddles out of the wrinkles in her dusty violet cloak._

 _._

 _"Thank you for taking the time to notice me," she whispered gently. Her gratitude was barely audible over the gentle rainfall. "Even if for just a bit… I wasn't so lonely anymore." He flinched when she stumbled a bit in attempts at a gracious bow. "Pleasant travels." He watched the weaving girl make her way a couple of unsteady steps before he slowly started after her, his large stride putting him at her side in no time. He could tell she wasn't well, likely hadn't eaten in days, but it didn't surprise him with a personality like hers that drove her to paint in the rain. With a soft sigh, he straightened alongside her, looking down the path ahead of them as puddles formed with the torrential downpour they'd found themselves exposed to._

 _._

 _"You got a place to say, kid?" He asked casually, knowing full well that the girl carried all her belongings in a sack over her shoulder._

 _._

 _"I'm sure I'll find one." Her assurance was soft as she neglected to make eye contact._

 _._

 _"Yea, I'm offering one," he muttered slightly in agitation. He cast his gaze towards her again, watching her exhausted gaze flutter weakly in denial. "You're not so good with hints, are you?"_

 _._

 _"I'm not so good with people," she admitted sheepishly. A long silence passed between them as they walked before finally, he broke it._

 _._

 _"So… you got a name? It might make conversing a little easier."_

 _She looked up at him solemnly, a sad attempt at a smile finding her lips. "Sure. You can call me Shadow. That's all I am to this world..."_

.

* * *

.

She closed her eyes, unaware that by Laxus' side, Gajeel was there to rest his reassuring presence on the man's shoulder.

.

"But lost and afraid, one by one, humanity took me in and raised me as one of their own."

.

* * *

 _._

 _"What is your name?" Neirah flinched and turned her vacant expression back to the woman bandaging her wounds. She fiddled with her hands in her lap for a moment with a diverted gaze before answering._

 _._

 _"My name is Shadow," she offered in a weak voice. "What is yours?"_

 _._

 _"It is Juvia, the rain woman," Juvia added equally as quietly. "Juvia apologise if her rain has made you ill. It follows her as she goes. Drip, drip, drop."_

 _._

 _"It's ok," Neirah assured her softly, cradling her bandaged arm to her chest in thought. "I'm always sick, it's no one's fault." She turned her gaze to face Juvia's empty one, but just as Ryverika had taught, she still offered the woman a friendly smile. "I actually love the rain." She assured her softly, bringing colour to a surprised rain wizard. Neirah reached over to her bag of belongings and pulled out her canvas papers to show the woman. "I like to paint pictures outside when it's raining." She flipped open to one of her favourite landscapes painted in the rain. "Sc- I mean… Big brother gets angry with me for being so silly, but I still love watching the colours wash over the canvas… so full of life… I know they look a little strange..." Neirah assured her as she shrugged, her features flushing rosy. "But they make me happy."_

 _._

 _"Big… brother… Gajeel?"_

 _._

 _Neirah turned her startled gaze back to the woman to clarify. "Uh, well, you see… he's not really my brother… He just… looks after me, I guess." She trailed off solemnly. "He probably hasn't mentioned me…"_

 _._

 _"Oh-well, we do not necessarily speak much." Juvia sighed softly and offered the young girl a blanket. "Juvia was actually surprised that he asked her to care for you. It is unlike him to be so trusting..." Juvia felt her heart break as little tears rose in the eyes of her young friend. "You love him very much if Juvia is not mistaken." She gently pried, watching Neirah's face flush as she slowly nodded. "Juvia has never seen him look the way he did today. Juvia thinks Gajeel cares about you very much too." Neirah's teary-eyed gaze tipped to where the faintest of smiles was offered to her. She was thrown into memories of what she used to be before she had met Ryverika, before she had met Gajeel, and her heart warmed. Without warning, she threw her arms around Juvia and hugged her tightly._

 _._

 _"Thank you, Miss Juvia," Neirah whispered softly. "I'm really glad I met you today."_

 _._

 _Juvia gasped softly before hesitantly hugging the child back. "I-J… Juvia is glad as well…" She managed softly. "From now on, perhaps you can look on Juvia as a big… sister." She was uncertain when Neirah pulled away and offered her happy, tear-stained features to the water wizard._

 _._

 _"You know? I don't mind being an orphan." Neirah assured the woman softly. "This way, I can make my own family and fill it with wonderful people like you and big brother." Juvia blushed and smiled warmly at the young girl._

 _._

 _"Juvia is glad this makes you happy."_

.

* * *

.

Gray reached out and took Juvia's hand in his, smiling down at her warmly for encouragement. With a heartbroken flush in her cheeks, Juvia started to follow him again as Fairy Tail continued to press forwards up the mountainside.

.

"Every hand that has touched mine, from the very first lonely boy in the city of Magnolia, has touched my heart, and without them, it wouldn't beat in order to stand against you."

.

* * *

.

Erza trudged on despite the agonising pain in her body; she gritted her teeth and pushed through it. She pumped her fists at her side with determination, ignoring her gentle whimpers of pain to forge a path beneath her feet. 'Neirah is giving her life to change the course of ours,' she thought through her hurt. 'To give up now would dishonour her sacrifice!' She stumbled again with a desperate cry but caught herself before she could hit her knees. 'I will not bow to my weakness while she suffers for our freedom!' She shook fretful tears from her eyes. 'I will live strong in her honour!'

.

* * *

.

"My father witnessed centuries of generations touch this earth and he never lost faith in the human heart," Neirah ascertained. "Through times of war and famine, he remained quiet despite his ability to end each conflict. He never gave up on this world. All he wanted was to see humanity flourish, to see them become better than they were yesterday." She hissed lowly and unfurled her wings like Ryverika had the day he welcomed her to infinity. "And I refuse to let you be the one to take it from him."

.

"What pathetic sentiments to choke on," Acnologia rumbled fiercely. He barreled into the golden dragon without remorse, without warning and Neirah's devastated holler cut the air as Acnologia's teeth sank into her neck. "I will tear your heart from your chest to silence them!" Another agonised cry cut the ocean air as Neirah struggled to pry the infuriated dragon from on top of her. She withdrew her wings tight to her body, realising that the ground had become visible once again beneath them as they plummeted from the heavens locked in combat.

.

She thrust her claws into Acnologia's throat, trying her hardest to get him to release her neck, but despite her best efforts and the scent of her blood rolling over her scales, she was helpless to pry him away. She scratched at his chest with her back feet, trying to detach him from where he drove her down towards the earth. "Your end has come!" Acnologia roared in triumph, watching their shadows appear on the ocean miles below. Neirah writhed with the unexpectedly tight grip around her throat, the single claw of his thumb piercing the wound he'd given her with his jaws and extending it with the force of his pressure. "At last, the legacy of the infinite Golden Dragon will perish beneath my claws and I will be the only living beast remaining! This is my world!" He craned his neck around to glower down at the struggling dragoness, his jaws parting at the ready. "Like your father before you, you will rest at the bottom of the sea! Make peace with your _destiny_!"

.

Neirah's heart beat fast as she closed her eyes, the wind whistling with their descent as they broke cloud cover. 'Every shadow… needs a light.' She thought humbly as the black dragon topped the golden one whilst they plummeted towards the earth from the heavens. Her thoughts wandered for a moment to the smiles and laughter that she shared with her guild mates, her family. 'They… are mine."

.

* * *

.

 _"You're in good hands, child." Suri smiled warmly, her gaze resting on the little girl's exposed ankle as the scarlet glow of the mark pulsed before an ebony tattoo grew dim on her young flesh. She watched Neirah and Gajeel disappear over the hill her house sat beneath with grateful tears in her eyes. "Don't let go..."_

.

* * *

.

 _'She knows nothing of this world. Not even fear. She is a blank canvas.' Neirah watched Ryverika's ebony claws sink into the earth and support him as he rose, but the child didn't fret over such a disturbance. "Greetings, my child." He rumbled regally, a twist in his head dispelling the fog around them entirely. 'Show me your colours, and paint the world with the hope I see inside.' He unfurled his mighty golden wings and welcomed the little girl into his home. "And welcome to infinity."_

.

* * *

.

'To my mother… and father… I'm sorry I never got a chance to thank you for all you did for me…' She thought solemnly, sure that despite her beastly exterior, tears were hot in her eyes.

.

* * *

.

 _"Go away!" Neirah screamed bitterly in demand, still trying to hide her tears. "Just leave me alone! Everyone else... does..." Guilt hit Gajeel hard in the next moments when he thought about the poor girl's past. First her father, then her mother, and on top of that, a second mysterious guardian who had adopted her had also vanished without a word. He clenched his fist tightly and remained at her bedside, a similar wound still healing on him as well._

 _._

 _"Not gonna happen." Neirah's tears flowed from wide eyes as she stared at the dark wall. "You may be a stubborn little nightmare, but even if you are just a shadow, you're my shadow, kid."_

 _._

* * *

 _._

'To my brother…' She drew a deep and steadying breath, listening to the heavy beat of Acnologia's wings above her. 'I'm sorry that I made you worry…'

.

* * *

.

 _"Nice try, but she can look after her damn self!" Laxus roared, cutting tense fingers through the stagnant air as he threw his arm out to one side. "She's not a fucking damsel, she's a dragon! If you wanna play the head game card you'd better try a hell of a lot harder than that!"_

.

* * *

.

 _At first, Laxus wanted to be furious that she'd even consider him being anything but responsible for his actions, but the fact that she would lovingly give him the choice to be anything but what she expected melted his heart. "Who am I to deny the will of an old lizard…?" He teased, smiling back at her as he swept the petals of her flower from between them. "Fate and what not…"_

 _._

 _"God, I fell hard for you…" She mewled weakly, dropping her arms around his shoulders._

 _._

 _He clutched the back of her head tight to his chest beneath his palm, fingers absently fondling her soft sakura-scented roots. "I should hope so, I put a hell of a lot of effort into turnin' your head."_

 _._

 _She pulled back and gently kissed his cheek. "Well, you've got my attention now, prince." She swooned. "It's kind of exciting when I stop to think that you seem to get more charming as the years go by…"_

 _._

 _"You think so?" He crooned, stroking her hair from her face._

 _._

 _"I'm pretty sure."_

 _._

 _He smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to her soft lips, holding the moment for a deep, languid breath. "I love you, Neirah," he whispered huskily. "And when I figure out a way to let you know just how much, you'll be the first to know."_

 _._

 _She smiled in his arms and held him close in the diamond moonlight. "I'll be waiting."_

.

* * *

.

'To… the man I love…' She could hear the sonic hiss of Acnologia's attack rising in his throat as the displacement of the gusting around their plunge had the tide in the ocean below swaying. 'I'm sorry it took so long for me to see it…'

.

 _Wait for me…_

.

In the next moment, Neirah's eyes flew open and her wings unfurled to redirect her sky surge and spin her around on top of the beast gripping her throat. "And to you…" She snarled bitterly, the hitch in his breath with his surprise just the opportunity she needed to get the upper hand. "I'm sorry but… this is not my time to die!" She parted her jaw the moment he readied his strike, but before he could emit his dark blast, the light of infinity was interrupting his discharge in his throat. The world grew still for a moment as the glow of her beam faded miles from where it left her body, the ocean parting until a cavernous magma glow cooled at its core. She panted softly in wait before Acnologia's grip on her throat released, sending the dragon through the haze and towards the ocean where he would forever rest alongside the previous generation of infinity.

.

Neirah closed her eyes and wrapped her wings around her body, filling herself with the warmth of her memories that remained of her time with humanity. Like her father before her, she would rest under the water's surface until the smoke had cleared. But should humanity ever need her once again, she would rise from hibernation to see freedom delivered to them once more.

.

She thought quietly to herself, slipping out of consciousness with her exhaustion. 'The world is yours…

.

Fairy Tail…'

.

* * *

.

Makarov stumbled forwards as the world shook at their feet and he was forced to redirect his attention to the land at their backs. 'Neirah!'

.

"Time is catching up to itself!" Cana cried, bracing herself on the rocky mountainside. "What does that mean?!"

.

Laxus whirled around to face the stormy skies at their backs, the tide rising miles into the air as a catastrophic cloud of destruction encroached onto the land. But through the haze of the devastation approaching, he could see the sight of two monumental figures tumbling towards the water's surface. He caught his breath as Erza broke away and took a firm stance in front of their band of refugees.

.

"Stand back!" She demanded, requipping into her adamantine armour. "It seems we haven't succeeded in making it far enough away from the dragon's battle!" She flinched when a bolt of golden light darted past her and back down the mountainside towards the wave of destruction approaching. "Laxus!" She wailed worrisomely.

.

"Don't be an idiot!" Bickslow called after him. "Even if Neirah won, what the heck are ya gonna do to help a damn dragon?!"

.

"Laxus, you can't-!" Freed's attempt at following was blocked by the suffocating smog of ash and dust overtaking them despite their vast distance from the ocean.

.

"Hang on!" Erza called, exhausting all of her strength to shield her guild at her back. 'I won't let Neirah's sacrifice be in vain!' She thought with a determined whimper, shaking tears from her face. "Fairy Tail will survive!"

.

* * *

.

Laxus could hardly breathe through the smoke of the cloud around him. Every particle that had been disturbed since the moment that Neirah had cast her spell on the land was rousing and seeking its final resting place on the earth's surface. His eyes burned from the combination of tears and ash meeting his devastated gaze, but he pushed forwards as fast as his feet could carry him. He let out a startled shout when the earth collapsed beneath his feet in a trench obviously resulting in one of the beast's breath attacks. He winced with the feeling of rubble collapsing on top of him, but with sporadic expulsions of magical energy, he managed to break down the layers of rock in order to climb back out. He stumbled along the uneven ground, which changed with every step he took.

.

'I won't believe it,' he thought desperately. He watched the torrential downpour of water fall from the sky with the impact of the beasts in the ocean. 'If Acnologia can go back and forth then she can too!' He closed his eyes and shook his head with a determined roar. "Please tell me she can too!"

.

He arrived at the settling Ocean's side and waded into the shallows, his already battered body devastated from his journey to his destination. His trembling gaze scoured the water's surface as the water settled and he actually winced with the sound of thunder shaking rain from the clouds above. He couldn't see either dragon, victorious, or defeated. But with the stillness in the air as the rain started to pour, it told him that somebody had claimed victory in the battle. Without too much more thought, he threw his coat from his shoulders and drew a deep breath before submerging.

.

He dove deep, knowing that with the impact of the dragons from the sky, they would have breached the water's surface like a bullet. The water was murky the deeper he went and the blackened storm clouds rumbling above him didn't help with the fact. But even with the darkness in the water as he swam, the ghastly sight of Acnologia's gaping jaw had the rush of panic overcoming him. He didn't have time to dodge as the dragon's jaws fell over him with the beast's descent towards the depths of the ocean, but when a long enough moment of stagnation passed between them, he slowly opened his eyes to see that the dragon had passed him by. His gaze widened with his clamouring bleat when he noticed that the back of the beast's head had been blown right out.

.

His world spun as he tread water, his mind and heart racing. 'She…?' He lingered for much too long a moment watching the black dragon sink when his last deep inhale was precious. He quickly started along his path with more fervour than ever because he could feel the black overtaking his vision with his lack of oxygen, but mostly because he believed. He believed in her. He closed his eyes and shook his head in hopes that it would clear the fuzzy stars from his vision. 'Damn it! Come on! Just a little lon-' He thought helplessly, losing the strength to go on. 'Neirah…'

.

And then he saw her.

.

* * *

.

"LAXUS!" Natsu called from the sky, Happy clutching him tightly in his paws.

.

"Yo Laxus! Say somethin' will ya!?" Gajeel raged bitterly from beneath Pantherlily's grip.

.

"I don't see him, guys!" Wendy added worrisomely from Carla's clutches. "Do you think he made it through that wave of destruction?"

.

"I don't know…" Gajeel started grimly.

.

"What'd'ya mean you don't know!?" Natsu scolded. "It's freaking Laxus! Of course he made it!"

.

Wendy watched the still earth beneath them receiving tears from the heavens. "Then… where is he…?" She whimpered sadly.

.

* * *

.

 _"I like to… paint in the rain…" The young girl murmured lifelessly. "The sky cries… so I don't have to."_

 _._

* * *

 _._

Gajeel quickly wiped the mix of tears and rainwater from his face. 'Shadow… you little nightmare…' His thoughts were interrupted with a loud crack of thunder startling his flight companion into almost dropping him.

.

"Maybe it'd be best to continue our search on foot," Pantherlily rattled out in terror.

.

"Maybe you'd be best just shuttin' up and-"

.

"Guys! Look!" Wendy cried, pointing towards the water's once still surface as it disturbed.

.

Natsu lit up his fists, grinding his teeth defensively with his rage. "Take me in, Happy," he snarled venomously. "If that's Acnologia, I'm gonna roast him alive for what he's done to Shads and Igneel!"

.

"Aye!"

.

Wendy clasped her hands to her lips as she caught her startled gasp. "Oh no, Carla, you don't think…"

.

"There's only one way to find out, child!" Carla demanded as she swooped down behind Happy and Natsu.

.

"Let's go, Lily!" Gajeel demanded through brows furrowed with pain and anger.

.

"Gladly!" Pantherlily whimpered out with the next flash of lightning.

.

"Come on out and face me!" Natsu roared to the gloomy sky, lightning at his back mocking his pitiful cries. The three dragon slayers watched anxiously for a long moment as the bubbles surfacing from below stopped.

.

In the next moment, the break in the water was sending the startled slayers back as Laxus emerged with a gasping breath…

.

… a mortal Neirah clutched defensively in his arms.

.

"It's Laxus!" Wendy cried. Carla took the theatrical hint to deliver her to the shore he approached.

.

"And he's got Shadow!" Natsu exclaimed. "The good ol' fashioned one too!"

.

Gajeel watched as his comrades swooped down to the shoreline where Laxus had collapsed with Neirah. He wanted to follow, but at the same time, he dreaded the outcome. Laxus may have surfaced with a mortal infinite dragon, but she wasn't looking like a very lively one.

.

"Gajeel?" Pantherlily inquired through rattled squeaks.

.

"Right, take us down furbrain," he softly agreed.

.

* * *

.

He took his first step on land, Neirah cradled in his arms. But after the second step, he collapsed with a hacking cough. Laxus panted heartily for breath, choking desperately on the water that had started filling his lungs with his dive. Starting to steady his racing heartbeat, he looked down at the moving tide beneath him rustling Neirah's tousled, blood-stained locks. "You did it…" He choked hoarsely on all fours, dragging the coat he'd left behind to Neirah's naked flesh. He raised his trembling fingers to her brow and pushed her hair out of her face. "Why doesn't that surprise me…? You little fucking psycho…"

.

"LAXUS!" Natsu called, attracting the lightning slayer's attention.

.

"Natsu?" He watched the three slayers land nearby, Wendy instantly darting towards them to attempt to heal Neirah's wounded figure.

.

"Where's Acnologia!?" Gajeel demanded furiously, worried for the worst. "If he did this and then retreated back to his hole in the mountains I swear I'll-"

.

"It'd be awful tough for him to pull that off without a head…" Laxus rumbled hoarsely. He refused to take his proud gaze away from Neirah's restless features.

.

"What?" Natsu hissed out in disbelief, the three slayers and their Exceed friends staring vacantly back at the man like he was delusional.

.

"I saw it myself…" In weak admittance, Laxus shook wet bangs from where they clung to his brow. "He's probably sittin' at the bottom of the ocean floor right about now if you wanted to see it for yourself before the fish get him." He slowly turned his serious gaze to the others. "I'm not exaggerating. There's only half a head left on his shoulders."

.

"You sure you didn't swallow a bunch of that sea water?!" Gajeel scolded.

.

"N-No way…" Natsu murmured breathlessly. "She did it…" His expression warmed sentimentally with relief knowing that Igneel and Ryverika's killer had seen defeat. He smiled broadly and wiped at the tears streaming down his face. "Shads really whipped him good, huh?"

.

Laxus turned his weak attention to Wendy. "S-she's alive… right…?"

.

Wendy kept her eyes closed as she spoke, her brow furrowed in the concentration of her healing spells. "She's definitely breathing," Wendy assured them all to cause a stir of relief to relax all their expressions simultaneously. Wendy panted lightly and opened her eyes. "But she's in terrible shape, there's only so much I can do for her. We'll have to get her somewhere safe so she can rest."

.

Laxus leant down and rinsed the blood from her neck before running the backs of his fingers against the deep laceration left from Acnologia's lethal grip. "I told you she wouldn't break," he murmured softly. He shifted his free palm to where he prayed his child still sparked with life within her. He smiled through his relieved tears with the humour he found in the situation. 'Hell, leave it to me to fall in love with a god damn dragon…'

.

"SHADOW!" Juvia screeched, storming the beach.

.

"Wendy! How is she!?" Cana demanded from close to Juvia's side. "Please tell me she kicked that creep's ass!"

.

Laxus turned and looked at the expectant faces of the guild members as they returned to be by their side. He scoffed lightly to himself, a smug smile on his lips and he closed his eyes and diverted his sentimental features away from them. When he said his woman was going to do something, she'd do it. "Man, you guys worry too much."

.

Makarov's expression grew bewildered as he looked down on the sight of Neirah's figure on the beach, breathing in the air that had long since cleared with the rainfall around them. "She really did it…" He murmured breathlessly, watching a hush fall around the crowd. Not only had she protected them by defeating Acnologia, but she remained human to do so. Guilt immediately flooded him. He had been so worried that Neirah would turn from humanity that had been so cruel to her, putting the lives of his children in danger. But there she laid, peacefully in his grandson's arms in the form they all knew and loved. He filled with hope for the girl's future for the first time as he threw his fist up into the air with a loud war cry. "Acnologia has been defeated! Fairy Tail's Shadow LIVES!" He roared proudly.

.

The dragon slayers at Neirah's side all smiled humbly as the remainder of the guild shared joyous cheers and happy tears for their teammate's victory. But in the moment that delicate little coughs were hacking gently between them all, the crowd was instantly silenced.

.

Gajeel dropped to Laxus' side worrisomely, helping the girl to rise despite the weight of the heavy wet coat draped over her bare skin. "Hey, kid, you ok?"

.

Neirah slowly opened her eyes and looked back at Gajeel affectionately. "Big brother…" She whimpered gently, reaching out to lay her fingertips on his cheek. "You're… big again…" He caught his breath as she smiled back at him through a fit of hot tears, watching her own fingertips like the sensation of touch was strange to her all over again. With that, her smile faded with the realisation she was human once more and desperately relieved tears drowned sapphire eyes.

.

Levy caught her breathless squeak of joy behind her small hands as delighted tears rained over her face. "Oh God thank you," she whimpered gently. "Thank you; thank you a million times…"

.

Neirah slowly rolled her gaze from the ground, to where Laxus was at her other side. She blinked back at him for a long time, big blue eyes showered with glistening tears. "Sparky…"

.

"Neira-" A startled hush fell over the crowd once more as Neirah threw her arms out around her saviour, dragging him against her lips for a much-needed moment of intimacy and relief.

.

He knew it was coming, the slew of unnecessary apologies for almost dying, for saving the world, for worrying sick-

.

"Thank you," was all she purred. She abandoned their kiss so that she could tip her brow to his and relearn the feeling of his face in her human hands. Her smile returned with the display of his. "Laxus…"

.

He watched her unsteadily raise, her legs barely supporting her weight. Noticing, he forced himself to his feet to steady her as she looked out over the tear-stained faces of all her friends. "I-I thought… I told you all to retreat…?" She whimpered her words gently when she noticed that every gaze to meet hers mirrored that of the moment before she took her true form.

.

"Yeah," Laxus murmured gently alongside her for support. "They've never been real great listeners." He caught his breath with her weak stumble before reaching down and taking her up into his arms. She smiled meekly up at him before turning to address her guild mates.

.

Although the effort was weak, the point was received when she spread her thumb and index finger, thrusting her arm high in the air. Laxus smiled sadly down at her, her smiling expression drowned in tears as he followed her example with his free arm. Gajeel, Natsu and Wendy were next, their smiles beaming with dragon pride.

.

Moments after, Erza's wounded figure against Gray's shoulder for support threw her free hand up, Gray following suit. Lucy caught a delighted giggle as her hand went up, Levy shaking her proud whimpers away as she did the same. Juvia and Cana screeched in delight as they joined, and soon, the whole guild ushered in the sunlight as it broke through the storm.

.

Laxus drew Neirah close, just cherishing the sound of her gentle breaths as they shuttered out in delight. His breathy whisper was weak with anxious emotion as he offered it, stroking her tousled tresses from her face. "You might be Fairy Tail's Shadow… but you're always gonna be my light…"

"I'll let you have this one," she whispered affectionately. She placed a gentle kiss on his lips while the cheers of their guild were drowning out her sentiment. "Let's go home, daddy."

.

"DADDY!?"

.

Neirah and Laxus stilled as the entire guild seemed to silence at the most inopportune moment.

.

"Holly crap, Shads!" Levy shouted. "Now is _not_ the time to drop that on us!"

.

"Whoa, whoa, come on guys," Cana reasoned casually. "For all we know, Laxus and Neirah are in some kinky bedroom relationship where she calls him _daddy_. Hey! Don't look at me like it's not a thing! And would you really put it past these two goons?"

.

"Awe~! Learn from your friend, Cana, and call me daddy!"

.

"Would you shut up and stop being creepy, dad! Now is not the time!"

.

Mira smiled sheepishly as she shook her head at Cana's insinuation. With her encouragement, Cana turned back to face Neirah who had the guiltiest look of motherhood on her face that Cana had ever seen.

.

"Holy crap! Laxus, you creep, my god, you're supposed to _slay_ dragons, not make freaking babies with them!" Cana roared.

.

Mira's smile only broadened as she listened to the news fill the ears of their family. It wouldn't be long now and a new generation of young wizards would be taking over the guild like it had before. Mira kept her hands folded silently in her lap as the other wizards clamoured and jeered in the distance, a stone silent Makarov by her side. "Master?" She cooed gently. "Are you ok?" Makarov toppled over lifelessly to his side, his spirit on retreat. "Oh no, Master, we only just got you back!"

.

"Take me!" Makarov whined. "Please! I'm not ready to be a great grandfather!"

.

"Oh boy," she mewled giddily.

.

"Laxus! You let Neirah go off on her own knowing that she was carrying your _child_!" Erza seethed. "And what's worse, you let her take the form of a dragon while carrying said child?! How irresponsible of a father not to worry what that kind of monumental adjustment could have on their unborn baby!"

.

"Yeah," Cana muttered. "Lord forbid they turn out like you…"

.

"No more dragons…" Makarov whimpered lifelessly.

.

"Stop being dramatic, Master."

.

"Well I, for one, am gonna be one proud uncle," Gajeel announced as he clapped his arm around Laxus' shoulder.

.

Neirah's gaze narrowed on his sceptically. "Really?"

.

"Heck yeah! I'm gonna be the cool uncle! Got it all planned out."

.

"You're going to be the only uncle…"

.

Gajeel shoved his finger in Laxus' face with a devious grin. "And this cool uncle is gonna take yer own kid and use it to torment the hell outta you, Sparky."

.

"Yeah, just keep in mind I still have seven and change months to kill you first." Laxus cautioned him.

.

"Guys, I'm really glad that this story has a happy ending and stuff, but I'm still bleeding," Neirah reminded them.

.

"Terrible husband!" Erza demanded.

.

"Oh, for god's sake Erza, they aren't married!" Cana turned her mechanical gaze over her shoulder to face the pair again. "You aren't, are you?"

.

"Why is this happening to me!?" Makarov wailed.

.

"Now, now, master, you should probably rest."

.

Neirah smiled warmly and just snuggled into the father of her child. "One step at a time, Cana," she whispered gently. "We don't need to be married to be a family."

.

"Gihi! Wicked! A bastard!"

.

"Gajeel!" Levy scolded.

.

"I refuse to allow that baby to be born before you are wed!" Erza commanded.

.

"Yeah, Erza, I don't think you have much of a say in those types of things," Lucy rumbled grimly.

.

Levy started to perspire uneasily as Erza craned her head around to glare at the pair. "You might be surprised how much pull she has around here, Lu…"

.

"Welp," Neirah crooned. She adjusted against Laxus' chest as the guild started bickering about their situation. "It's not perfect,"

.

"But it's real enough for me…" Laxus leant down and pressed a delicate kiss to her brow. "It's home."

.

"And there's no place I'd rather be." Neirah gently tugged on the edges of his coat like she was trying to offer it to him. "Here, take this, you look so cold…"

.

Laxus smiled and gave his head a weary shake. "Just like old times," he teased. "Did you forget your pretty little ass is nude?"

.

Neirah puffed out her cheeks defiantly. "Find me a window, Sparky."

.

Laxus snickered and tucked his collar up against her more snuggly. "I'll live," he assured her. "Besides, it looks better on you anyway."

.

"Charmer," she whispered. "Now I'm just… going to rest my… eyes…"

.

"Yeah," Laxus encouraged. "Leave the rest to me." He quickly started to make his way through the crowds in search of someone who could take care of her. And more specifically lend their opinion on the wellbeing of his unborn child.

.

"And Laxus?"

.

"Hm?" His heart fluttered as he looked down into her sleepy smile, her trembling fingers reaching out to grasp his like the day they had after the Grand Magic Games. She was clearly too exhausted to finish her sentiment, but it was received in full. And he liked how it felt too, no, he loved how it felt. This was how it was meant to be, his woman, safe in his arms. "Get used to it, princess," he assured her playfully like she'd actually spoken the words. "It's gonna be feelin' this way for a damn long time to come…"


End file.
